The present invention generally relates to a collapsible top for motor vehicles and more particularly to an arrangement for connecting a top cover to a rigid roof panel in a secure manner.
Known sports cars with a collapsible top possess, in the region of a windscreen frame, a rigid roof panel located under the top cover to which the top cover is fastened and which, extending in the transverse direction of the vehicle, supports the top cover.
For this purpose, the top cover is conventionally guided over the outer face of the roof panel and round its front contour edge and is secured to the underside of the roof panel.
With this type of fastening, a defect arises at high vehicle speeds because, as a result of the strong upwind occurring in the region of the windscreen, the top cover lifts off from the roof panel at the rear end of the latter, thereby forming between the roof panel and cloth sheet a gap which continually changes as a result of the wind turbulences and which has an ugly appearance, but above all causes troublesome fluttering noises in the top.
Thus, an object of the present invention is, to provide an arrangement which secures a top cover of a collapsible top to a rigid roof panel in such a way that it does not lift off from the roof panel under a strong upwind.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by means of a unique arrangement whereby the top cover is secured to the rigid roof panel by a cloth lug fastened to the covering near a rear of the rigid roof panel.
According to certain advantageous features of preferred embodiments of the present invention, the top cover, because of the cloth lug fastened to it, acquires additional retention on the underside of the roof panel and can thereby transmit the strong upwind forces occurring at high vehicle speeds to the roof panel. A gap is prevented from forming between the rear end of the roof panel and the top cover.
The contact of the top cover against the roof panel can be maintained especially effectively if the cloth lug is fastened to the top cover along the rear contour of the roof panel, so that no covering material is available for a lifting-off movement of the top cover.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the cloth lug is secured firmly to the underside of the roof panel by an adhesive bond, and it is also visually attractive if, at the same time, the cloth lug has such a large surface that it reaches up to a trim piece fastened to the roof panel.
Because of the tensile stresses transmitted to the top cover and the cloth lug, it is advantageous to bend the rear end of the roof panel in a rounded manner, so that no sharp tearing edges occur.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, bending the underside of the roof panel in a rounded manner can also serve for securing the cloth lug, if it has a cross-section approximately in the form of a three-quarter circle, into the orifice of which a rail fastened to the free cloth-lug end can be pressed, the rail being rotated in this orifice as a result of the subsequent counterpulling of the cloth lug to thereby clamping the cloth-lug end.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.